Alright, one week to the day after I played the tournament, it's on to round three of my report. In a lot of ways, this felt like the main event for me; it had the largest play area, STAR cards were in full effect, and I was also faced off with my toughest opponent yet. As it turns out, my opponent Kyle and I ended up being the top two finishers in the event! Unfortunately, this game was so engrossing, I didn't get nearly as many photos of it, so I apologize in advance. Anyway, here we go:
Round 3
Points: 800
STAR Cards: Normal, per the rulebook.
Scenario: This game was also played on a 48"x36" space (ie, half of a 4x6 foot table). Each side had the same 8.5"x11" deployment zone plus an additional 8" to either side, making for a total of 8.5"x27". This game was a straight-up kill the other guy scenario, with
VP awarded per the normal rules (half points for units down to half
HP or less, full points for destroyed units, and double points for captured models).
Setup
There was a time vortex in the middle of the board (the red area above) between 4 islands, each 3" in diameter. This vortex slowed time such that any unit inside of it could fire its weapons twice in the same activation. However, this vortex was hazardous, as any unit that went stationary inside it for any reason would be sucked into another dimension (off the board and out of the game)!
Forces
Me (Prussian Empire)
1x Sky Fortress
1x Dreadnought
1x Battleship
2x Pflict Scout Ships
4x Frigates
Kyle (Covenant of Antarctica)
1x Dreadnought
1x Battleship
3x Cruisers
4x Frigates
Turn 1
This turn was pretty quiet, as we were both out of range of each other. I won initiative, but in general, all of our units advanced forwards, with the heavy units (Battleships and Dreadnoughts) moving towards the time warp zone as fast as possible. I also kept all of my flyers obscured, to hopefully ward of damage as they closed.
Turn 2
This turn saw the opening shots being fired. Kyle won initiative and managed to put a critical hit on one of my scout flyers using his BB and DN, despite that model being obscured! My frigates moved into the time warp to engage Kyle's frigates, sinking 2 with guns and capturing a 3rd by boarding. In the meantime, my Dreadnought managed to put a point of damage on Kyle's cruisers, which were coming down my right flank.
Turn 3
During this turn, Kyle won initiative again and started off with his Dreadnought. He managed to ram and sink the frigate of his that I had taken as a prize last turn, and then proceeded to sink two of my frigates with his Particle Accelerator. His DN, which was now within the time warp and able to fire twice, managed to destroy my damaged Pflict, and then put a point of damage on my DN! I responded with sinking his last frigate with my two survivors, who were in turn finished off by Kyle's BB, which also managed to damage my remaining scout flyer. At this point, my BB managed to get some solid hits in on Kyle's, causing a critical hit that started a fire! Kyle's cruisers continued down my right flank, taking shots at my DN that were blocked by shields, despite their Sturginium rounds. In turn, my DN put another point of damage on a cruiser with its after turrets, and another point of damage on Kyle's BB with its fore turrets. My Sky Fortress and Scout ship both entered the fray in the center of the board, but neither of their shooting attacks amounted to anything due to Obscured and effective shield rolls on Kyle's part.
Turn 4
I had managed to win initiative this round, and started off with my Sky Fortress. Taking her out of the clouds, I was able to line up a bombing run on Kyle's DN and also get within range to board Kyle's BB. Again, I was able to fire twice due to the warp, and both of my attacks caused damage to Kyle's DN, though the Sky Fortress did take two hits of damage in return from Ack Ack. My boarding action successfully claimed Kyle's BB as a prize, although the fighting was bloody; I had only two
AP left to hold the ship! Kyle activated his DN next, and successfully put a point of damage on my DN, and managed to finish off the remaining Pflict scout ship. My DN then engaged Kyle's in a point-blank slugging match, causing a critical hit that also reduced the
AP of the Antarctican ship by 2. I was also able to sink one of Kyle's cruisers, which he activated next. They were then able to sweep in, causing a crit on my BB and managing to retake his own BB from my marines! Again, the boarding action was a bloody one, with Kyle losing about half the marines on his cruisers. My battleship, now heavily damaged, crossed the stern of Kyle's DN, firing for little effect. However, it was able to re-board Kyle's battleship, reclaiming it for Prussia. To add insult to injury, Kyle's BB collided with one of his cruisers in the end phase, causing a critical hit to the cruiser!
Turn 5
This was the final turn of the game. Kyle won initiative, but at this point all he had was his heavily damaged DN and two damaged cruisers. His first order of business was to activate his DN, and immediately play a "Pass the Tools" STAR card, which allowed him to repair D3 points of damage. Of course, he promptly rolls a 6, allowing him to take his DN from 8 damage back up to 5 (as a side note, I had opponents use this card on 3 separate occasions that day, and every time they rolled a 5 or 6 on the D3!). I then activated my Sky Fortress, which destroyed one of Kyle's two remaining cruisers with its broadsides. Kyle activated the remaining cruiser next, but was unable to maneuver effectively due to being hemmed hin by the hulk of his captured BB. He took a shot at my Sky Fortress, but did not score any damage. At this point, the rest of the activations were mine for the turn. I still had my dive bomber squadron, the DN, and my BB left.
First, I sent in my dive bombers, which were able to attack twice due to the time warp (and a mutual agreement between Kyle and I). Thanks to some poor Ack Ack rolling by Kyle's DN and the Vertical Dive MAR, all 5 dive bombers got through on the first attack, and 4 got through on the second. They managed to cause two more points of damage to Kyle's beleaguered Dread. Next, I activated my BB, which sank Kyle's last cruiser with its aft Teslas in a very lucky shot, and then sent its remaining
AP over to Kyle's DN. This attempt was doomed to failure, but the only goal was to soften up the DN for a boarding action by my DN. For my final activation, I activated my DN and sent all of it's marines to Kyle's DN, which was the sole remaining ship he had on the board at this point. My marines were able to overwhelm the defenders, granting me victory!
The final tally was pretty devastating; I had destroyed Kyle's cruisers and frigates, plus taken his DN and BB as prizes. This totaled up to over 1200
VP! In return, Kyle had sunk my frigates, downed my scout zeppelins, and damaged both my battleship and my Sky Fortress by more than half, for a total of not quite 400. This game sealed my 1st place finish in the tournament, but I also think it was the most fun; Kyle played a very tough game, and I think it could have easily gone the other way.
. Here we go!
